Please thank your wife and friend. That is heartwarming to read that

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"Go yell at an M&M"

Given the gas situation only I think it is irresponsible for the marathon to continue. Since public transportation, trains, and flights are not operating under a normal schedule I assume a lot of people going in for the marathon are driving. If I was in a 5 hour line waiting for gas for my generator I'd be pretty pissed if I knew half the people I was waiting behind were knowingly driving into NYC for a marathon.

Not to mention all the gas-powered generators they will be running.....

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Chicago Cubs - 2016 WORLD SERIES Champions!!!!

"If ever the time should come, when vain and aspiring men shall possess the highest seats in government, our country will stand in need of its experienced patriots to prevent its ruin." - Samuel Adams

Yes really a great post and perspective. Everything happened quite quickly and every hour more and more information comes out allowing runners to make new decisions on how they want to be involved (or not) in the event (and relief efforts). You do have 20,000 + people arriving in the city capable of bringing 20,000+ bags of extra clothes, food, etc. to be distributed to the needy. Hopefully NYRR will make the most of the resources at hand.

It would seem 9 out of 10 posts here are negative on the marathon. I've pretty much resigned to not getting on my flight tomorrow to go (moved from today, as I figured getting into Manhattan on a Saturday would be better than a Friday). My main reasons, other than the suffering going on by all residents of NY already were:

1 - My safety. There seems to be a great deal of resentment towards runners and I have no interest in being a target in New York city;
2 - The ability to even get into Manhattan to my hotel
3 - The ability to get out of Manhattan on Monday.

All the best to everyone in New York during this difficult time. Maybe another time....maybe not.

I might be wrong but I don't think the critics are in the majority. they just seem so because they are far more vocal. this has become a very politicized event but there are two levels: the appearance of helping the relief efforts and the actual helping with relief efforts. Canceling the marathon may give the appearance of helping with the relief efforts but whether that would translate into actual help, who knows?

I just cancelled my entry for this year. Worst feeling ever. But, with all the negativity, I have to just sit this one out. I am in the best shape I have ever been in for a marathon. This was going to be the one (maybe even a top 100 effort). I hope NYC gets all healed up. Rough times there. First, the Yankees collapse (which was awesome!) and now Mother Nature gives them a beat down (not awesome).

+1

The runners will need to be very patient with the organizers.

You said in three lines what it took me several paragraphs on FB to say:

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Having been just about lynched by the assistants at my office for turning up to work in running shorts here are my thoughts on the marathon and some of the arguments I've heard floating around:

- The race is going to be too soon for many and that's inevitable. Staten Islanders' outrage is particularly understandable.

- Mary Wittenberg doesn't interview well and the suspicion that it's all about...
the $ for Bloomberg is always just below the surface. Neither of these help.

- As regards "resources":

1. it's a logical assumption that staffing the marathon will require emergency workers who would otherwise be working on the aftermath of Sandy but that's not been established as far as I can tell. I ran a chunk of the marathon route today and there were more cops managing the traffic than there typically are on the same sections managing runners on race day. It's also, to my surprise, simply not the case that every member of the NYPD and fire department have been working flat out since Sandy - there is and will be, we're told, capacity. On that note is anyone in Jersey complaining about the cops that'll be staffing the Meadowlands this weekend?

2. The suggestion that NYRR direct its vounteers to help the relief efforts is not realistic. There is very little overlap between people who are willing and able to hand out Gatorade at mile 12 of a marathon and people who are willing and able to usefully contribute to a rescue effort or have the means to get to the affected areas even if they could.

3. No-one will withhold a donation to the relief effort because they paid for a marathon entry. The marathon has already pledged to donate $1m to the relief effort and will indirectly provide a much bigger boost to the economy. If runners want to donate on top of that they will - if they don't it's not because they wrote NYRR a check 6 months ago.

- I doubt postponing the marathon was possible. The runners were here, hotels and flights were booked, staffing was organized, suplies were ordered. I'm no expert but I'd bet it was a go / no-go decision.

- 4 laps of Central Park is not an alternate route. CP can barely handle a two lap 6,000 person half. Given the state of the city and the Staten Island start excepted this is about as good a course as they could have set.

As frivolous as running a marathon seems the bars were packed on Tuesday night and no-one complained about the thousands of dollars and hours that were spent drowning cabin fever or about the fact that restaurants, museums and even the zoo have been reopening as fast as they could when we all, arguably, have more important things to be doing that eating fancy food, contemplating art or staring at animals.

Bottom line, I remain very conflicted about the marathon but I urge everyone to separate their instinctive feeling that running it so soon is disrespectful from the objective questions of whether the furor it's created is consistent and fair and whether cancelling it would be in the least bit beneficial to those affected by Sandy. Whatever side of the line you come down on - and I definitely see both sides - the decision was made by NYRR and/or Bloomberg - don't put this on the runners.

...and, to be clear, I'm not running this year but am just saddened by the fact that the day I always think of as the purest celebration of New York's diversity and community is going to be mired in controversy.

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"Are you sure we're going fast enough?" - Emil Zatopek

 +1



I say just Do It!

Hahaha...true colours coming out now. Sorry you live on first ave on UES (or wherever you said it was you were)...it indeed is shit up there.

TBH, electricity isn't such a big deal, but a lot of the bigger buildings don't have any water, which is a big deal. I have no power but still have water so prefer to stay downtown than move above 14th street :) Anyway, of course people coming in to prebooked hotel rooms should keep them if they come but it doesn't mean they are going to be treated well as they walk past the dude they are kicking on to the streets or some crappy shelter. TBH, your trip is already screwed as NYC is a shit show at the mo and now ConEd has said earliest L. Manhattan will get power is 11pm on Saturday so you aren't going to be seeing any of the sights down there or shopping in SoHo, etc. Basically, everyone is in a bad situation but it is trying to figure out what is best for the majority. Sadly, the couple thousand coming from Italy, France, etc, that didn't get their flights cancelled are greatly outnumbered by the New Yorkers that are having some big issues (and I don't include myself in that....more the East Villagers, Financial District residents (some are out for over 2 weeks from their apartments), S. Islanders, Red Hook, Rockaways, Coney Islanders, etc....i.e. the dudes that got flooded, burnt, and/or swept away).

VERY WELL SAID.


To add my 5 cents to this already excellent statement. The immediate and understandable sensible reaction from everyone is to cancel or postpone the marathon. That was my stance from the very beginning. But my thoughts just didn't stop at a "Just stop the fucking Marathon" sentiment. I considered the how do we do it, even if we wanted to? When should we have made the announcement? Could it still be done, HOW? What effect would it be? Can we still push through with this and help those that need to be helped? What will happen if we cancel it?

Its really easy for anyone to say, "Just cancel the damn thing and screw all those runners and everyone else involved in this God-foresaken event. I don't really give a flying fuck to those Europeans, Chinese, and South Americans who fly in already. I care only about my neighbor." Many have said that already and I continue to read sentiments like these all over the Internet . But no one really has expounded as to the proper execution of the cancellation. The longer that decision was put on hold, the more difficult it would have been to execute. I understand the criticisms against Mayor Bloomberg and his decisions. But do we really know what transpired behind making those decisions? To top it all, he also continues to do whatever he can do to work with disaster relief. No one here is envious of what he has to do and where to allocate the limited resources the city has to help everyone. Yes he is the mayor and it is his job to do all this. But can we all agree that he has one hell of a fucking tough job?

I don't think a two-term mayor of the biggest city in the country makes arbitrary decisions about anything without consulting with the Chief of Police, the Fire Department, the City Council, and other senior officials of his administration. Not to mention asking Wittenburg if she can still pull this thing off. If the Chief of the NYPD really believed that he had better things for 1,500 cops to do on Sunday, wouldn't he have said that to the mayor? If so, then wouldn't it be logical for the mayor to listen to him? Problem is, we do not know the discussions behind making this decision and perhaps never will.

As I mentioned three days ago... its a damned if you do, damned if you don't situation.


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I like your response, but not this part:

"I don't really give a flying fuck to those Europeans, Chinese, and South Americans who fly in already." (paxfobiscum)



I do care about these people and if the race goes on, I hope they have a good experience. We don't need to look like ugly Americans.

Well I do not really think that.... but I stated it to drive a point because there may be others who think that way.


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I am registered to run on Sunday.

I have major qualms:

1) Those without power and those with structural damage to their homes are getting expelled from their hotel rooms. Even if they're wealthy, it doesn't really matter because they're still in need.
2) The buses that will take us to the start use significant quantities of diesel. There isn't enough fuel to go around.
3) NYRR has rented and held onto the generators that they reserved months ago. There is a shortage of generators.

Should we move on? Yes. Ideally about a month from now or just cancel it altogether.

Am I going to run if they don't cancel it? Yes. Do I have a good reason why? No.

NYRR has already said they're fully insured.

Understood.

At this point, with all the vitriol on facebook and people calling for disruption of the race, what are the chances that racers are even able to complete the race? ...well, at least without having to circumvent some sit-in or "occupy the NYC marathon" bs?

If the race goes on, I say do it, but leave family and friends at home.

Well said. I don't agree with the decision, but it really is a closer call than critics think. Road Runners put the decision in the mayor's court, I am sure his people (police, fire, electric, garbage and on) all said, it will be hard but we can do it. Decision is made, live with it, make the best of it. People that signed up should run, people that miss it can get a deferral for next year. I also like the point about the bars. On Tuesday, as we suffered at the shore, my sister said people on the upper west side were fighting over . . . who could use bikes in spinning class. Not all of New York is suffering. And again, I think holding the race was the wrong decision but not an exceptionally foolish or bad decision.

While I am in favor of a cancellation/postponement of the marathon, since it is going to happen, has anyone thought now about the safety of those who do particpate in the race? I can only imagine what might happen to any of the participants by the general public/spectators given the general reaction to this.

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Triple Threat Triathlon

No one really knows and unfortunately we will only find out at the end of the day on Sunday. The runners will have to find out for themselves how much the public will support them or hate them. Some hatred will evident and inevitable in some form or another (a protest, eggs thrown, boos, disruptions, race blosking) but they will be sadly unfair.


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Well I live in Manhattan. Haven't lost power. Aside from a few trees knocked down, everything is back to normal. I have no problem with people partying it up this weekend. The problem is some of these resources are scarce. The shortage isn't in emergency service workers, it's generators, diesel, etc.

This is what most gets me.
Ive done many destination marathons and IMs. Understand the training, financial committment etc. But to run this NOW is beyond horrible, and again say if you are going to run it, when you could defer, this is beyond, way beyond selfish behaviour seen often in this sport. And really, tell yourself and others you are helping the city, when in reality you are just fulfilling your own narcissism. I have zero respect for anyone who does this. Would love if all the pros pulled out.